Note from the Author!
It's Monday already? Geez, time sure flies by! Not to toot my own horn, but I REALLY like the way this chapter turned out. I hope you'll like it too! Also be forewarned, there is a bit of an increase in adult-ish material in this chapter, but I think that it still can be rated T (It's not THAT bad). If anyone thinks I should move it up a rating, PM me! Hope you enjoy chapter numbah six!
-{Chapter Six: Memories Unfolding}-
Otonashi stood at the entrance to the cave, a flashlight in one hand, a pistol in the other. Behind him stood Kanade, Hinata, Yui and TK, the other members on his team for the mission. The rest of the SSS members had split up into their various groups, and were equipping themselves for the mission. Each group only had one gun with a handful of bullets. The other members had swords, knives and other various melee weapons.
"Ready to go?" Kanade said, holding a dagger in each hand, much like Hand Sonic v1.
"Yea, just waiting on the others now." Otonashi said gripping the pistol.
Hinata rummaged through the pile of weapons before picking up a katana. He gave it a few swings, getting a feeling for the sword. Meanwhile, Yui was having a bit of a tougher time finding a weapon. She rarely ever participated in missions, except for the distraction squad, so she had very little combat experience. However she insisted on participating in the mission, for reasons unknown to Otonashi.
"Hey, ready to face this guy?" Hinata said walking over to Otonashi.
"Yea, but it looks like your girlfriend is having a little trouble finding a weapon. Aren't you going to help her?"
"Nah," Hinata said with a laugh, "I'm sure she'll find something."
Sure enough, Yui stopped rummaging through the pile of weapons. An evil grin came across her face as she pulled out her weapon, a medium-length braided black whip. She looked over at Hinata her mouth in a devilish grin. Hinata gave a small yelp.
"Oh Hinataaaaaa~! Lookie what I found! Remember this?" Yui said her voice oozing.
"H-How'd that get h-here?"
"I don't know but I'm keeping it! Maybe we'll get to use it again~ !" Yui said, skipping into the cave.
Hinata just stared forward, clearly in shock.
"Hinata? What was that about?" Otonashi said.
"N-Nothing!" He said breaking out of the stupor, "F-Forget about it. We should get into the c-cave."
"Um… O-Kay? Hey Where's TK anyway?"
" I'm… gunna rock and roll all niiiight! " said a yell from the cave.
"Found him." Kanade said, "We should get inside too."
The group's footsteps echoed off the cave walls, the only sound in the cave other than TK's incoherent singing. Otonashi and Hinata held the lead followed by a dancing TK while Yui and Kanade took the rear.
Otonashi glanced around the dull cave. It was hard to believe that anyone would be able live here, even if they were already dead. As he glanced over at his left, Otonashi noticed that Hinata was rubbing the back of his neck consistently.
"Hey man, you okay?" Otonashi asked.
"Huh?! Y-Yea, sure! Couldn't be better!" Hinata replied with a falsetto smile.
"Ok seriously dude what's up? You've been acting strange since Yui got that whip. What's going on?"
"N-Nothing! Nothing at all!" he said waving his arms above his head.
Otonashi was about to drop it when he saw the red welts on Hinata's neck.
"Are those… Whip marks?"
Hinata's face froze in a twisted expression. Otonashi just stared at him blankly, putting two and two together.
"S-So when you told me yesterday that you and Yui… You were doing…That?"
"M-Maybe…"
Otonashi stared at Hinata, his face blank.
"…Well?" Hinata said.
"I'm just trying to… picture it…"
"S-Shut up! I wasn't the one who suggested it, she was!"
"I can see that, she does seem like the dominant one in the relationship!" Otonashi said laughing.
"Hey! Well, I'm not the only dirty one here! What about you and Kanade?"
"What?" Otonashi said his face in a confused expression.
"Y'know on the roof last night, just the two of you. Alone."
"…We didn't do that last night."
"Huh? You didn't?"
"No. We just kissed." Otonashi said smirking, "You've got to get your mind out of the gutter. Or should I say leather?"
"SHUT UP! … I was close…"
"Not really!"
As the boys continued to argue, Yui engaged in conversation with Kanade.
"So basically you just tackled him and then you did it? Right on the side of the school?" Kanade said in disbelief.
It seems that both the guys and the girls were talking about the same thing.
"Yep!" Yui said happily.
"And this happened right after Otonashi woke up?"
"Yep!"
"…You guys are really weird."
"Yep!"
"…Honestly, I'm jealous of you two."
"Ooooh~ ! Does Kanade want to do it with Otonashi?"
"N-No!" Kanade stuttered, "That's not what I meant. I'm jealous of the relationship you two have. The fact that you can trust each other like that… I wish Yuzuru and I could be like that..."
There was silence between the two for a few moments.
"…I'm pretty sure you guys ARE like that."
"Huh?" Kanade said dumbfounded.
"Well, let's see. Otonashi was the first out of the ENTIRE SSS to trust you, he was the first one who wanted to find you after you were abducted by your clones, and he was dedicated to helping you complete your mission of helping people move on. And from what I heard from Hinata, you had to be at least a part of the reason why Otonashi wanted to change the code. You two probably have a stronger bond than Hinata and I. No pun intended."
A small smile slowly crept across Kanade's face. "Thanks Yui."
"Eh, no problemo! Now we've just got to work on getting you two to sleep together…"
Kanade was about to protest when she heard a shout from Otonashi. "Hold!"
Kanade pulled out her daggers and moved towards Otonashi, getting into position. Yui unfurled her whip and followed her.
Otonashi had his gun in his hands, his finger hovering over the trigger. Hinata held his katana out in front of him, much like a kendo swordfighter. TK stood behind the two, still dancing and singing. He had a pair of brass knuckles in his hands, a large T engraved on the left one, and a K engraved on the right.
About 10 meters in front of them stood a person. He looked about 17 and had sharp dark blue eyes and dark hair.
He was the splitting image of the AI.
"Hey!" Otonashi yelled, "You're the creator right? The one who sent the note"
"That I am." He spoke coolly, "What business do you have here?"
"I think you know why." Hinata said brandishing his katana.
"Ahh. Well I'd rather not attempt to fight five people at once so… goodbye."
The creator just turned around and walked the other way.
"Hey! Come back here!" Kanade yelled.
Surprisingly the man stopped moving and turned around.
"Ah, Kanade is that you?"
She was taken aback. "How do you know my name?"
"Oh, *tsk* I forgot that you lost your memories too. Of course you didn't recognize me."
"How. Do. I. Know. You." Kanade said sternly.
"I'll give you one hint. My name is Akio Suke."
The singing from behind the group suddenly stopped. TK pushed Hinata and Otonashi out of his was and slowly began to walk towards The Creator, whispering something underneath his breath.
"Ah! Takuma Kichiru! Or should I call you by your old code name, TK? I haven't seen you for a while either! Still dancing along to the sounds of death?" he mocked
"You bastard…" TK said slowly, "YOU BASTARD!"
TK screamed and engaged in a hostile attack at The Creator. The man pulled out a black dagger and blocked TK's furious attacks.
"Otonashi! Shoot that guy!" Hinata said.
"I'm trying but I don't have a clear shot! I don't want to hit TK!"
"Still good, as always!" The creator taunted as the fight raged on. He was able to block or evade all of TK's punches. "But you're always. So. Damn. Predictable!"
The Creator punched TK in the gut, knocking him over. As he stood over TK with the dagger Otonashi shot the gun.
Time seemed to slow down. As he watched, The Programmer deflected the bullet with his knife. The Programmer pulled a revolver out of his pocket and fired.
He heard Kanade scream. Then all he saw was darkness.
Otonashi woke up in the infirmary. It was midmorning and light was just beginning to break over the Horizon. Kanade sat on the chair next to him, sleeping on his chest. What... Happened? Otonashi thought to himself. Then it all rushed back to him, The Programmer, TK's rage and getting shot.
He petted Kanade's head lightly. Even while she's sleeping she's cute, Otonashi thought. Kanade's eyes slowly began to flutter open in the morning daylight.
"Yuzuru!" she said sitting up, "You're awake! How do you feel?"
"A little bit dizzy, although I just got shot so I think I got off easy."
"Do you… remember everything?"
"Yea, If I lost some memories, I must not have lost all that many, I think I haven't forgotten anything important." Otonashi said furrowing his brow.
"You need to be more careful next time! You've been asleep for 3 days!"
"Heh, Sorry. I'll be more cautious next time."
Suddenly Kanade kissed Otonashi. He was surprised by it, but stayed in the kiss. After a few seconds the two pulled away from each other.
"I thought I lost you." Kanade said with tears in her eyes, "I thought you'd never wake up again, and I'd never hear your voice again."
'Don't worry," Otonashi said hugging her, "I'm here now."
"Tell me what you saw in the cave Otonashi."
Otonashi sat on one of the green couches in the SSS briefing room. Kanade sat next to him and Yurippe across. "Well, we were about here," he said pointing at a map on the table in front of him, "When we met with the creator."
"The creator. And he said his name was…"
"Akio Suke"
"Right, Akio Suke. And he said that you knew him Kanade?"
"Yes, although he doesn't seem all that familiar." She said.
"That's when TK started to attack him, right?" Yurippe asked.
"Yea," Otonashi said, "He started yelling at him, calling him a bastard and attacking wildly. I've never seen him like that before."
"Hmmm. This operation seems to have uncovered more questions than answers. It's also not helping that TK isn't answering any of our questions."
"Huh? Why not?" Otonashi asked.
"He's just sitting in his dorm room staring at the ceiling. He won't eat or drink anything we give him."
"I'll try talking to him." He said, getting up from the couch.
"Alright" Yurippe shrugged, "It's worth a shot. Kanade, you should go too, seems you're mixed up in this thing too."
"Okay," Kanade said, "C'mon Yuzuru, let's go!"
As Otonashi entered the room, he saw a motionless TK lying on his bed, his eyes wide open and bloodshot. On his bedside table were various packages of food and drinks. Otonashi walked over to his bedside with Kanade in tow.
"Hey TK, can you hear me?" Otonashi asked, "I wanted to ask you what happened in the cave. Why did you freak out like that?"
TK just stared blankly at the ceiling.
Otonashi sighed, staring at his lap, "What the hell is going on man..."
"The Lost Souls."
Otonashi picked his head up, "Huh? What was that TK?"
"The Lost Souls. The Lost Souls are back."
"The Lost Souls? Who are they? TK?"
TK was silent once again.
"The Lost Souls…" Kanade said, "That name sounds… familiar."
"Do you know what it means Kanade?"
"No, but… I recognize it from… somewhere… I don't know."
The two just stared at each other looking for answers as TK muttered one final thing.
"Hatsune…Otonashi…"
~End of Chapter 6~